''Analog Man'' is the eleventh and latest solo studio album by the American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist

Joe Walsh Joseph Fidler Walsh (born November 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In a career spanning over five decades, he has been a member of three successful rock bands: the James Gang, Eagles, and Ringo Starr & His All-Starr B ...

, formerly of the

James Gang James Gang is an American rock band formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1966. The band went through a variety of line-up changes until they recorded their first album as a power trio consisting of Joe Walsh (guitars, lead vocals), Tom Kriss (bass), and ...

and lead guitarist for the

Eagles Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...

. The album was released in mid 2012, on the label

Fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, It is also his first new solo studio album to be released since 1992's ''

Songs for a Dying Planet ''Songs for a Dying Planet'' is the tenth solo studio album by the American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Joe Walsh. It was released in mid 1992, on the label Epic. Keen to re-establish himself after his ill-received 1991 album, ''O ...

'', 20 years prior. The album features 10 new songs, and was co-produced by

Jeff Lynne Jeffrey Lynne (born 30 December 1947) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the co-founder of the rock music, rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), which was formed in 1970. As a songwriter, h ...

. The album also features contributions from the former

Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...

drummer,

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...

, the former Barnstorm members,

Kenny Passarelli Kenny Passarelli (born October 28, 1949 in Denver, Colorado) is an American bass guitarist. Passarelli was a founding member of the Joe Walsh-led band Barnstorm, co-writing the hit "Rocky Mountain Way". He later served as a contract player for ...

and Joe Vitale, former James Gang members, Jim Fox and Dale Peters, and also a duet with

Little Richard Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the " ...

. The album peaked at No. 12 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' 200 chart, as well as No. 4 on the top rock albums chart. In the UK it reached No. 53, his first chart album there for 34 years.

Production and recording

After touring with the

and struggling with alcohol and drug addictions for many years, Walsh decided that it was time to record a new album while being supported by his wife, Marjorie Bach (sister of

's wife, Barbara). To pursue making the album, she also gave Walsh

's contact number. When Walsh was asked about his collaboration with co-producer Jeff Lynne, he said "Jeff and I met socially, and at one point he said, "Why don't you bring your tracks over sometime and we'll have a listen." That led to some comments and ideas that he had. Gradually, we worked on some stuff and checked out some of his stuff too. It ended up that he really helped me finish it up and ended up producing. He really put his stamp on my music and took it in a direction I never would have gone, and I'm really grateful to him."

Critical reception

The album received mixed reviews, with review aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

assigning an overall rating of 57/100. Reviewing the album in ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'', critic Jon Dolan wrote of the album "life's clearly been pretty good to Walsh: He's sober ("One Day at a Time"), loves his family ("Family") and still has good command of his guitar chops (check out "Funk 50," a reinvention of the

's 1970 killer "Funk #49," complete with new, carefree lyrics)." Reviewing for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, critic

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...

wrote of the album "apart from the odd lyrical reference to an

iPod The iPod is a discontinued series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first version was released on October 23, 2001, about months after the Macintosh version of iTunes ...

or Walsh's ongoing recovery, ''Analog Man'' sounds like it could have come out in 1992 and that's all due to Lynne, a man who makes a record in one particular way: crisp, clean, hook-laden, and sequenced so tightly there's no room to breathe."

Track listing

All songs written by

, except as noted.

Vinyl LP Track listing

All songs written by

, except as noted.

Personnel

– guitars, lead vocals (1-4, 6, 7, 8, 11), vocals (5, 9), bass (5, 7, 10), drums (5), acoustic piano (7), string arrangements (7), synthesizers (10), backing vocals (12) *

– keyboards (1, 2), guitars (1, 2, 8), bass (1, 2, 4, 8), drums (1, 2, 4, 8), backing vocals (2, 4, 8) * Bruce Sugar –

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

(3), percussion programming (6), programming (10, 11) * Joe Vitale – keyboards (6),

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in ...

(6) * Richard Davis – synthesizers (7), programming (7) *

– acoustic piano (12), lead vocals (12) *

Greg Leisz Gregory Brian Leisz ( ; born September 18, 1949) is an American musician. He is a songwriter, recording artist, and producer. He plays guitar, dobro, mandolin, lap steel and pedal steel guitar. Biography Leisz grew up in the garage band cu ...

–

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a Console steel guitar, console-type of steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings to enable playing more varied and complex music than any previous steel guitar design. Like all s ...

(3) * Jay Dee Maness – pedal steel guitar (3) *

Tim Armstrong Timothy Ross Armstrong (born November 25, 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and producer. Known for his distinctive voice, he is the singer/guitarist for the punk rock band Rancid and hip hop/punk rock supergroup Transplants. ...

– guitars (9) *

Rick Rosas Rick "Rick the Bass Player" Rosas (September 10, 1949 – November 6, 2014) was an American musician, and one of the most sought after studio session musicians in Los Angeles. Though largely known for his long collaboration with Neil Young, throu ...

– bass (3) *

– bass (6) * Dale Peters – bass (12) *

– drums (3, 6) * Jim Fox – drums (12), backing vocals (12) *

Steve Jay Eugene Stephen Jay (born January 26, 1951) is an American bassist, best known for working with "Weird Al" Yankovic. Early life Jay was born Eugene Stephen Jay in Detroit, Michigan on January 26, 1951. He auditioned for "Weird Al" Yankovic in 19 ...

– percussion (1, 2, 4) *

Tommy Lee James Tommy Lee James is an American country music songwriter and record producer with Still Working Music Group. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, he is originally from Roanoke, Virginia. He graduated from Northside High School then attended Radford Un ...

– backing vocals (3, 6) *

David Crosby David Van Cortlandt Crosby (born August 14, 1941) is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of both the Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash. Crosby joined the Byrds in 1964. They got ...

– backing vocals (7) *

Graham Nash Graham William Nash (born 2 February 1942) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, photographer, and activist. He is known for his light tenor voice and for his contributions as a member of the Hollies and the supergroups Crosby, Stills ...

– backing vocals (7)

Production

* Jeff Lynne – producer (1, 2, 4, 8, 11), mixing (1, 2, 4, 8, 11) * Joe Walsh – producer (3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10) * Tim Armstrong – producer (9) * Steve Jay – engineer (1, 2, 4, 8) * Bruce Sugar – engineer (3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10), mixing (3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12) * John Morrical – producer (9) * Ken Hammon – engineer (12) * Dan Gerbarg – mastering *

Howie Weinberg Howie Weinberg is an American audio mastering engineer with over 2,257 mastering credits, three TEC Awards, 21 Grammy Awards, two Juno Awards, and one Mercury Prize. Career Weinberg mastered Herbie Hancock's 1983 album ''Future Shock''. Other m ...

– mastering * Jeri Heiden – art direction * Ryan Corey – package design, background photography * Andrew MacPherson – photography *

Irving Azoff Irving Azoff (; born December 12, 1947) is an American entertainment executive and chairman of Full Stop Management, which represents recording artists. In the mid-1980s, he brought success to MCA Records. Since September 2013, he has been chai ...

– manager for Azoff Management (Los Angeles, CA)

References

External links

{{Authority control Joe Walsh albums 2012 albums Albums produced by Jeff Lynne Albums produced by Joe Walsh Fantasy Records albums